Laurel SEL Initiatives

Each month, a Life Skill will be spotlighted and on display throughout the school campuses – in classrooms, the library, and front office. Teachers will read books representing the life skill for the month to their class. Each month, students will participate in classroom or school activities to help reinforce the life skill. Students will bring home a Life Skills Gram each month so parents have the opportunity to recognize their child for using the life skill of the month.  At the end of every month, teachers will choose students who did an outstanding job exemplifying that month’s "Life Skill."  Life Skill wristbands are awarded to the students who were chosen for that month.  By the end of the year all students will earn a wrist band...possibly two!

Specialists and yard duty supervisors who see students displaying their life skills will recognize and reward students with a Life Skills sticker or a Life Skills ticket.  Tickets can be used to enter a weekly raffle where students have the opportunity to win various rewards, such as lunch with the Principal, a prize from the prize box, and more!

Goals of the Life Skills Program are to provide the foundation for personal and social growth in all students, teach the Life Skills through multicultural literature and build a common language and camaraderie at our school and in our district.  

We encourage families to actively discuss the highlighted "Life Skill" together. Read some of the suggested books below.. Model the "Life Skills" at home and give praise when your child demonstrates good "Life Skill" actions.  Complete the monthly Life Skills Gram to recognize your child's use of the various Life Skills!

September: Self-Awareness
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen by Howard Binkow, When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang, It's Hard to be Five: Learning How to Work my Control Panel by Jamie Lee Curtis, Listen, Buddy by Helen Lester, Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes by Jane O'Connor, Too Many Tamales by Cary Soto, Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail

October: Compassion
The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau, One by Kathryn Otoshi, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, The Kindness Quilt by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler, Small Acts of Kindness by James Vollbracht, Heartprints by P.K. Halliman, The Ant and The Elephant by Bill Peet, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, Watch Your Tongue, Cecily Beasely by Lane Fredrickson, A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Stead, and How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham

November: Cooperation
Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman, The Snail and The Whale by Julia Donaldson, Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes, First Come the Zebra by Lynne Barasch, The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll, It's Mine!by Leo Lionni, Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell, Calling All Engines by Richard Courtney, The Enormous Potato by Aubrey Davis, Clean Up, Grumpy Bunny by Justine Fontes, and A Story About a Big Turnip by Tatiana Zunshine

December: Gratitude
Money, Money, Honey Bunny! by Marilyn Sadler, Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts, Mama Panya's Pancakes: A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary Chamberlin, The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen, One Gift Deserves Another by Joanne Oppenheim, A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway, The Magic Gourd by Baba Wague Diakite

January: Perseverance
A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman, Pearl's New Skates by Holly Keller, She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton, Little One Step by Simon James,Clorinda by Robert Kinerk,  Mailbox Magic by Nancy Poyder, Being Teddy Roosevelt by Claudia Mills, Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull, A Girl Named Helen Keller by Margo Lundell, Bien Hecho, Ajay by Stuart J. Murphy, Jackson's Plan by Linda Talley, Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success by John Wooden, Try, Try Again by P.K. Hallinan

February: Flexibility
How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina Friedman, I Can Handle It by Laurie Wright, I Will Be Okay by Laurie Wright, Regina’s Big Mistake by Marissa Moss, Tallulah’s Tutu by Marilyn Singer, and Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg

March: Integrity
A Day's Work by Eve Bunting, I Tell the Truth (The Best Me I Can Be) by David Parker, The Empty Pot by Demi, The Honest-to-Goodness Truth by Patricia C. Mckissack, The Boy Who Cried Ninja by Alex Latimer, Franklin Fibs by Paulette Bourgeois, and The Truth Pops Out by Marc Brown

April: Problem-Solving
Buford the Little Bighorn by Bill Peet, The Quickest Kid in Clarksville by Pat Miller, Creepy Pair of Underwear by Aaron Reynolds, Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, What Would You Do With a Problem by Kobi Yamada, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, and Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea by Tony Johnston

May: Personal Best
Not Yet by Lori Hockema and Lisa Cox, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco, Be Kind by Pat Zeitlow Miller, The Bad Seed by Jory John, and Ricky, the Rock Who Couldn’t Roll by Jay Miletsky

June: Courage
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do by Ashley Spires, After the Fall by Dan Santat, Have Courage! (Being the Best Me) by Cheri Meiners, Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy, and Brave Enough for Two by Jonathan Voss

If you have any questions about the Life Skills Program or other SEL initiatives, please contact your school counselor (Lower Campus - Mrs. Guilliot at aguilliot@mpcsd.org; Upper Campus - Ms. Wickstrom at swickstrom@mpcsd.org).

For more SEL information and resources, visit the Counselor's Corner.

The Mood Meter is a tool that helps people of all ages build self and social awareness. It helps us understand how our emotions influence our thinking and behavior, and it empowers us to recognize and label our full range of emotions, and manage them more skillfully. These skills help us get along with others and make better choices in our lives. Emotions can be understood as the degrees of pleasantness we are experiencing, combined with the level of energy we have.

The line on the Mood Meter that runs from left to right represents how pleasant a person feels, ranging from extremely unpleasant on the far left to extremely pleasant on the far right. The line on the Mood Meter that runs up and down represents how much physical/mental energy a person feels in their body and mind, ranging from extremely low on the bottom to extremely high on the top. When the lines intersect, four squares (quadrants) are formed – each marked by a different color.

• The red quadrant is unpleasant, high energy emotions like anger, frustration, and fear.
• The blue quadrant is unpleasant, low energy emotions like sorrow, disappointment, and loneliness.
• The green quadrant is pleasant, low energy emotions like peacefulness, balance, and serenity. 
• The yellow quadrant is pleasant, high energy emotions like happiness, joy, and excitement.

The Mood Meter shows that there is a space for all emotions and that all emotions are okay. Even unpleasant emotions, though they may feel uncomfortable, can serve us in certain situations. Part of working with the Mood Meter is developing strategies that can help us work skillfully with some of those feelings in order to achieve our goals. Experiencing a wide range of emotions is part of the human experience and being smart about our emotions is part of being emotionally intelligent.

You can learn more about the RULER approach and why emotions matter in early childhood in this article.  

Below are activities you can do with your child to reinforce what they are learning about the Mood Meter at school:

Kindergarten 

1st Grade 

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

RULER approaches have been implemented across all our classrooms.  Through the integration of the mood meter, explicit teaching of feeling words, establishing calming corners in every classroom and other spaces, and coaching emotional regulation strategies, we work to equip our students with essential skills for self-awareness and social-emotional growth.

Starting from kindergarten with belly breathing techniques, followed by counting slowly in first grade, and encouraging positive self-talk in second grade, we provide our students with a solid foundation for emotional intelligence related to regulating big feelings. These strategies will undoubtedly support their personal well-being and promote a positive classroom environment where empathy, understanding, and resilience thrive.